Black Widow of the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D

Wow... 5 months since the last update! Sorry about that my poor little blog. Today I will fix this up!

I'm back to my commission list, which means I am making my way through the list one by one until they are all done and the slate has been wiped clean. 2013 has been a year of tying up loose ends for me and it feels good!

This piece is one of my standard 9 x 12 copic marker commissions. Here you can see my pencils as well as a couple of other thumbnails for some poses I was trying out. This was the 2nd page of sketches I did until I finally landed upon the pose that I liked best for the piece.

Here you can see a close up photo of the actual art which gives a much nicer look at the actual colours on the piece. Unfortunately my scanner is a real POS.... they dont make them like the used to!

Thanks for reading!

J.

Wolverine VS The Sentinel Head

copic marker and ink on 9x12 bristol board

Hello? Testing, testing.... It's dusty around here...time to clean off the cobwebs and make some regular updates. Anyone reading this?

Well, I'm still making my way through all of these Ozmosis commissions, so if you are still waiting, here is proof that yours is coming soon! There are not too many left...maybe 15 or so and then I might open up for new commissions. Maybe.

Anyway, this one was cool... I was asked to draw Wolverine, which is always fun. I added the big Sentinel head in the background to create a little more of a story for the piece and to give me something which I could use to help Logan pop off the page even more.

traditional pencil with digital pencil

For you guys who like to see some of the steps and progress behind the scenes...well, you know thats what this blog is for... so here you go. I apologise for the watermarks, but people have been stealing my shit and trying to sell it, so I gotta do what I gotta do. Those scallywags!

So, this is kind of where my process is at these days. I like to start with my pencil and sketchbook as I have always done. Once I have something that I'm feeling pretty good about I will usually scan it and then clean it up and mess around with it a little digitally. In this case you can see below that I actually drew the sentinel head completely digitally because it was an idea I had when I was sitting in front of my computer I suppose, so that's just how it worked out.

Find my on Instagram. User name: sommariva

 Above you can see a progress shot I took once I had done most of the line work on Wolverine. In the scan below you can see that line work with the undersketch removed, but this was the same step here.

inks done with a brush pen

Thanks for reading, and hopefully I will see you guys back here very soon!

cheers,
Jon.

Hulk VS Superman :: Blood and Guts

For this commission I was asked to draw Hulk ripping Superman in half, or something to that effect. The request was in Spanish, so I hope I understood it right!

Hope you don't mind a little blood and guts. I'm sure even this would not be enough to kill Superman though. I saw some peeps on instagram haing a proper nerdy chat about whether or not this could actually happen. Fun to read!

For the art heads: This is a 9 x 12 piece drawn on smooth 300 series bristol board. I used brush pen and copic pens as well as copic markers for the tones. You can see my intial thumbnail idea, as well as my rough pencils before I took it to final.

Thanks for looking!

NOTE: For anyone wanting to buy a copy of my ART BOOK, I should have the store set up by the end of the week. You should be able to place your orders starting on Monday 27th Augut 2012. There will be bonus content for the people who get in early! Ozmosis Chills 3 is almost here!

Onslaught :: Oz Comic Con Sketch

Hey!

Well, the last couple of weeks have been hectic! Lot's of cons and lots of travel. It's been good times though, but I am always happy to return home and get back to some serious art making.

Oz Comic Con in Melbourne was HUGE! Had a really great time there. It was a very interesting experience. Catching up with other comic book makers was really great as always, and meeting all the fans and art collectors was awesome too. I had some great con sketch requests, which I will talk about more in a moment. I can only imagine this show getting bigger and better with each event. It's exciting times ahead!

One of the highlights for me was sharing a table with Scott Allie from Dark Horse comics. It was really great hearing his advice and insight as many artists came past to show him their work. It was interesting to experience the con from an editors point of view, and Scott had some great stories to share with fans. When I wasn't blabbing to people, I had my radar on and listened in as Scott did his thing. I also learnt one of the best ways to get someone to stop talking... Give them a Mintie! :) I now know why I am often bought packs of these things. More Minties = Less talk = More drawing!

I gotta send a shout out to my good friend and amazing artist, David Yardin. We stayed up every night either drawing or hanging out, and were shown great hospitality by his family after the con. We had some good adventures with Mr. Tristan Jones, Francis Manapul and Agnes Garbowska. Lookin forward to sharing a Hendrix and cucumber with these guys again soon!

OK... I know what you are thinking.... enough con reporting, let's see some art! Well, today I am sharing with you something that is fresh as fresh can be...this one is straight off the drawing board. It is actually a con sketch that I didnt have time to finish. I have made a point of getting better at not taking con sketches home, but I just wasnt feeling the vibe in the last hour of the con, so I decided to take this one home.

So, the request was to draw Onslaught. I gotta tell you, this character was a bitch to draw! I have never drawn him before, and I found him quite tricky. I try to do all my con sketches portrait, and the thing with this guy is that he is really wide, so that makes things interesting as far as placement on the page goes. The shoulder pads are a pain, until you "get" them.

Usually with a con sketch, it is quite off the cuff, and fast as far as layout and structure goes. Usually you are getting the first thing that comes to mind. Since I had more time, I started off with some thumbnail sketches to get a feel for the character, so there was more thought put in to this piece. I actually then took one of these thumbnails to the rough stage, but I felt that the pose was a little static and boring, so I made a 2nd attempt.

I was much happier with the 2nd pose. It had a little more dyanamic energy to it. As far as composition goes, I wanted to give the image a little something extra to lead the eye and help Onslaught pop a little, and so I added a Professor X head in there. His main colours are red and purple, so there is not much variation in his tonal values, which is why I went for the darker space background to add contrast in the piece.

Well, I hope this was not too boring. I have no idea if anyone actually reads this. If not and you just look at the art, well, that is cool too. A picture says a thousand words right, so I should probably type less and draw more, anyway!!

Thanks for reading, and more art is on the way!

Jon.

Art book update with more head sketches.

Hey guys!

For the past week I have been working on the art that people ordered with their copy of Ozmosis Chills 3. I'm hoping to have most, if not all of it done by the time the books are printed and in my hands.

I have been getting some really interesting sketch requests. Here are a few of the recent ones.

Hope you like!

Jon.